Sense Perception

We perceive the world through our five senses: sense perception is the active,
selective and interpretative process of recording or becoming conscious of the
external world. Because sensory perception is an important dimension of our
understanding of the world, its function and scope should be examined and critically
evaluated. The following questions may help students become aware of the nature and
power of sense perception, and how it relates to knowledge acquisition, knowledge
claims, and their justification.

Nature of sense perception

In what ways does the biological constitution of a living organism
determine, influence or limit its sense perception? If humans are sensitive
only to certain ranges of stimuli, what consequences or limitations might
this have for the acquisition of knowledge? How does technology extend,
modify, improve or restrict the capabilities of the senses?

What possibilities for knowledge are opened to us by our senses as they
are? What limitations?

Is the nature of sense perception such that, as Huxley suggests,
sensations are essentially private and incommunicable?

By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy
in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies—all these are
private and, except through symbols and at second hand,
incommunicable.

Aldous Huxley (1954)

Importance and limitations of sense perception

To what extent do our senses give us knowledge of the world as it really
is?

Does the predominance of visual perception constitute a natural
characteristic of our human experience or is it one among several ways of
being in the world?

What is the role of culture and language in the perceptual process? Given
the partially subjective nature of sense perception, how can different
knowers ever agree on what is perceived? Do people with different cultural
or linguistic backgrounds live, in some sense, in different worlds?

How, and to what extent, might expectations, assumptions and beliefs
affect sense perceptions? How, if at all, can factors that bias our views of
the world be identified? Is all sense perception necessarily theory-laden?
Do knowers have a moral duty to examine their own perceptual filters?

It is often claimed that information and communication technologies are
blurring the traditional distinctions between simulation and reality. If
this is so, what might be the consequences?

Linking questions

To what extent is visual perception in particular a justifiable model not
only of all sensory perception but of human understanding as well (in
English, “I see” often means “I understand”)?

What is the role of sense perception in the various areas of knowledge,
for example, history or ethics? How does it differ across the disciplines?
Is it more important in relation to some disciplines than others? Is there
any knowledge that is completely independent of sense perception?

Does sense perception perform fundamentally distinct functions in the
arts and the sciences? To what extent does the artist make an advantage out
of the subjective nature of sense perception, while the scientist regards it
as an obstacle to be overcome?

What can be meant by the Panchatantra saying,
“Knowledge is the true organ of sight, not the eyes”? Is it necessary to
have clear ideas to see?

Sense perception and areas of knowledge

What role does observation play in the methods used to pursue knowledge
in different disciplines? For example, are the conditions, function and
results of observation the same for biology and human science? If not, what
accounts for the differences?

What role does what we expect to see, or are used to seeing, play in what
we observe? For example, after learning about the structure of cells from a
textbook, how “neutral” might the observation of a slide under the
microscope be? Can we learn how to see things properly?